Steampunk

I know you are dying of curiosity, so this morning Bec McMaster joins us to give us a glimpse of her office essentials. Check it out!

Writing can be a lot of hard work. There’s the hour or two each day that’s spent staring out the window, daydreaming about sexy and dangerous heroes; the hours poring over my hero and heroine’s Goals, Motivation and Conflict – or plotting just how much torture I can dish out on my poor hero – heh, heh, heh…

Nicola Tesla has never needed a man to complete her life. A gifted engineer, she has always had her experiments to keep her company-or she did, before her vile boss stole them. Now she’s working at the Archives in New London, where the memories of the dead are stored. But it isn’t long before Nicola discovers she’s being watched . . . by a most intriguing, sinfully sexy man.Archivist Emmet Dennison should be busy extracting memories from the dead. Instead he’s been asked to keep an eye on the brazen, strikingly beautiful Nicola Tesla. Soon Emmet and Nicola are shaken by an attraction neither of them wants. Yet when a nefarious man takes them hostage, Nicola and Emmet will need to rely on their attraction, and the growing bond between them, to stop a madman hellbent on destroying New London forever.

Please welcome Paul Crilley to the virtual offices! He’s here to tell us about his latest release The Oriris Curse.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] Describe yourself in 140 characters or less.

[Paul Crilley] A Scotsman living in South Africa. Generally quiet, loves his kids. Passionate reader. Superhero in training. Teller of tall tales.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] Can you tell us a little about The Osiris Curse?

[Paul Crilley] It’s the sequel to The Lazarus Machine, a steampunk mystery-adventure in the vein of Dr Who, Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, and James Bond. This time round Tweed and Nighitngale are looking into the mystery of Nightingale’s missing mother, (which was touched upon in the first book). Their investigation brings them into contact with a sinister cult called the Brotherhood of Osiris, and they are forced to go undercover on the maiden voyage of the Albion, the very first luxury airship. (Tweed has to pose as a waiter, something he’s not at all happy with.) The trail takes them all the way to Egypt, where they discover that a certain mythical ‘hollow-earth’ theory might not be so mythical after all.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] How did you come up with the concept and the characters for your Tweed and Nightingale series?

[Paul Crilley] The whole thing started off as a single image I came up with about ten years ago. It was of a shivering, skinny Sherlock Holmes sitting on a rocking chair staring into the fire while Dr Watson looks on in horror. Only problem is, Holmes had been dead for ten years. It was originally going to be an straight adult book, (is that a term? Not Young Adult, is what I mean), told by Dr Watson, just like the original Holmes tales, but then I started adding more and more steampunk elements and then Nightingale appeared (originally as an antagonist), and that image morphed into what we have now.

Cover Shot! is a regular feature here at the Café. I love discovering new covers, and when I find them, I like to share. More than anything else, I am consumed with the mystery that each new discovery represents. There is an allure to a beautiful cover. Will the story contained under the pages live up to promise of the gorgeous cover art?

Am I the only one who thinks he looks like Keanu Reeves? Judging by all of the flames and blinding orange chaos behind him, he’s got quite a job ahead of him. Good luck! We’ll see if he perseveres in February 2014

After Vespa, Syrus and Bayne defeated the Grue and restored order to their world, they thought their future was secure. Empress Olivia, committed to peace and equality for humans and Elementals alike, was a fair and just ruler. And the Creeping Waste had vanished for good, giving them hope for the first time.

But rebellion is brewing in the far-off city of Scientia, and dark Elementals are plotting war in the ruins of New London. When a wave of unimaginable terror threatens to destroy everything in its path, Vespa, Syrus and their friends are plunged into a new swamp of intrigue, deception and magic—and the cost of survival may be more than any of them are willing to pay.